Kyoshiro wasted no time with his movements. He wanted to kill the creature, for he sooner the creature is defeated, the sooner he can add it to his collection. Kyoshiro threw down the spell tags which released another one thousand and one Jian-Shi that Kyoshiro had in his collection. And like the many times before, the Jian-Shi surrounded the creature, attacking it with whatever they would and mentall tormenting it. Then they sank into the ground again, leaving the area around Kess empty.

Nocturne fired a sphere of lightning at the beast and watched it cringe as it was shocked repeatedly. The conductor was amused. He figured it would be best to knock things up another notch on the next turn.

Draak looked at the abomination of a dragon that was before him. It was a disgrace to anything that was to look like a dragon. He unleashed his strongest move on it, in an attempt to spite it. But it wasn't anything personal.

Lily heaved the huge bomb onto the center of the field with a grin. She was unleashing her most powerful attack before the creature had time to make an attack of his own. The bomb landed with a resounding 'thud' and rolled in front of the beast, who simply stared at it.

Nocturne was about to cast another spell when he found himself unable to control the mana with his voice. As a matter of fact, he couldn't get a grasp on any of his mana, let alone use it. However, there was more than one way to damage the creature. "Thou who seeks the knowledge of the world, discover truth within the cries of nature. Feel the wrath of the people crash upon you as the might of the gods through sound. May the deities shun you from existence and smite you with the force of music. Fatal Rhapsody!!" The myriad of lightning bolts struck the beast followed by the ray of lightning zapping it mercilessly. "Ignoring the song of the soul is fatal."

"You do not belong on this planet. Be gone from here!" Draak yelled. He saw that Nocturne wasn't able to grasp onto his mana, but Draak could still grasp it. He closed his eyes and after a few seconds a loud buzzing sound could be heard. Draak's claw was conducting electricity, and it didn't seem to disappear.

Watching the battle unfold, Kyoshiro moved to a position where he could get a better view of how the creature acted. It seemed to be extremely aggressive, and Kyoshiro finds that to be a valuable factor in a Jian-Shi.

Czes placed his black candle on the mansion's carpet, as he had done before in previous locations. Odd, ominous spirits began to flow out of the candle, sinking into the ground of the mansion. The spirits then rose up around the odd, draconic creature as if the spirits were entangling it in a mass of energy. The spirits then dissipated; the dragon, Kess, had been severely weakened by the previously executed moves, so now, the dragon has been put into even greater amounts of pain.

The beast roared in agony, it's body beginning to smoke, as if on fire. The red orb in it's chest began to glow a bright red color, smothering the dark mansion with it's luminosity. The black skin of the creature began to melt, revealing bright blue scales underneath. The disgusting creature was turning into a beautiful dragon, right before their eyes. When the metamorphosis was complete, the orb jumped out of the dragon's chest and rolled away from the beast.

The black skin, now a liquid, began to twitch and bubble. It suddenly zoomed away from the dragon, stopping a safe distance away. The black mass began to rise and change shape, forming what looked to be like a giant spider. The spider hissed at the group, to which the dragon growled back. The spider seemed to have angered the dragon for some reason, but how?

Looking at the black, spider-like creature that had relinquished the dragon's body, he knew he was no match. There wasn't a single thing he could do except listen to the tones echoing about in his mind that manifested death and hopelessness. He frowned slightly.

Lily picked up the red orb that had rolled away during the fight. The bomb expert brushed some dust off of it with her hand and looked at the odd sphere. Turning back to the group, she presented the orb to them, as if expecting some response. Receiving none, Lily held the sphere close to her chest and nodded at the group. It was time to leave.

The blue dragon did not stay long. It had decided to send a globe of water to encase the spider that had caused it so much grief. The sphere of water condensed, causing the spider to condense also. The dragon seemed to be content with crushing the spider into nothing, and felt no inclination to pay attention to the five humans who had helped it.

The group decided this would be the best chance to escape from the dragon and head back to the village. They still had a mission to complete.

REQUEST-00 COMPLETED!

Grak-kao Village

MarketplaceThe marketplace is the most lively part of town, most of the villagers are there to buy or sell a product. A few have jobs in bars and other joints. Only a small number of shops hold items, weapons, and armor.Choices:Armor Shop - Holds a variety of different types of armor. Owned by a rather beefy-looking man with a sour attitude.Item Shop - Holds a variety of healing items that can be used during battles. Owned my a small, kind young woman.Weapon Shot - Holds a variety of sharp objects and antique items used for channeling mana. Owned by a rugged blacksmith with a surprisingly respectful attitude.

StationThe station is a place where local villagers and visiting travelers can state their problems or worries. Most of it has to deal with saving a child, but there are quite a few requests to slay certain beasts.Choices:Demon Problems! - A rather small scroll that was scribbled on. The writing is hardly legible, but it seems as though there is a demon on the loose in a nearby village.Trapped in a Well! - A dog got stuck down a well...how tragic...Siren Alert! - There is a Siren roaming around here somewhere. The Siren was the one who wrote the request, seeing as it wants to play Hide-and-Seek.

~~~Here are your choices. Be very picky at what you choose. For the marketplace, we can only afford to go to either the weapons shop, or the armor shop, AND the item shop.

Nocturne looked at his broken baton with a grimace of displeasure. It had been close to cracking before, but ever since the battles, it threatened to completely snap in half. He desperately needed a new weapon. Thus, he spoke. "Weapon." He also realized that it wouldn't hurt to buy some items. "Then Item." With that, he waited for the responses of his allies.

The ring of metal against metal reverberated through the room as the group entered the weapons shop. A burly man stood in a back room, holding down a rather large hot-red sword on an anvil, and holding a hammer in the other. He slammed the hammer down on the sword a few times, creating the same sound again before he noticed that customers had walked in. He dropped the sword in a trough of water, which immediately started to smoke and sizzle.

"Welcome young Masters and Ladies, are you interested in any of my wares?" The man asked respectively.

Lily nodded in return, "Yes. Let us see what you have." The blacksmith simply waved a hand behind him. A multitude of heavy weapons hung from the wall, while the more fragile, antique weapons were encased in a small wooden box that were labeled accordingly.

Blacksmith's Shop:

Black Wand: An old baton said to be used by some of the greatest Conductors. Can be equipped by Nocturne. (+2 M-ATK) 200 Gold

Orange Bomb Cores: Bomb Cores that have a high explosion range and much more power than black cores. Can be equipped by Lily. (+2 ATK) 500 Gold

Arak Seal: Slips of paper with a diagram of an arachnid and a few other symbols written across it. Contains a mysterious power. (+2 M-ATK) 800 Silver

Black Beads: A long ring of black beads used for decoration. A mysterious power emanates from them. Can be equipped by Czes. (+2 M-ATK) 800 Silver

Nocturne said nothing, but gazed longingly at the beautiful black conductor's baton that was before him. He held up his broken baton sympathetically and watched the snapped top half swing back and forth, barely connected to the main shaft.

Kyoshiro eyed the seals. They seemed to be doing nothing but gather dust in the shop seeing that he was one of the few people of this generation who still practiced Taoism. The spell tag he had at the moment seemed to be at a much less quality than the well-made seals with the exquisite spider marking on it."Not bad...I'll take the seals..." Kyoshiro said and took out 800 silver and set it on the counter.Then Kyoshiro turned to the rest of the group."You don't mind...do you?" Kyoshiro asked with a grin.

Draak wondered for a few seconds before finally deciding to get the claws. He pulled out the necessary amount of money to pay the man, and handed it to him. He grabbed the claws and equipped them. He doesn't know how, but he managed to get his old claws off, and handed them to him also, hoping to get a bit of money back in return.

Lily nodded at the blacksmith, "We'll just take everything then." She said, as the gold and silver piled up on the counter. The blacksmith nodded and placed the weapons on the counter, drawing up the gold and silver into his hands. He placed them in a small box and looked back at the group.

"I can buy all your old weapons for..." The blacksmith took one look at each of their weapons, "500 Gold and 250 Silver pieces."

"That sounds good, okay, here you go." Lily replied gathering all their old weapons and placing them on the counter, where the blacksmith took them and stored them away, leaving the group alone.

Money Bag:600 Gold1050 Silver500 Jicts

The group then left the weapon shot and made their way across the street towards the Item shop. Upon entering, they were greeted with a warm and soothing fragrance of medicinal herbs. A young woman waited patiently at the counter for the group to approach. She had heard people coming in and immediately came to greet them. A row of vials and herbs lined the shelf behind her, each one of them giving off a different scent.

"Welcome! Do you need any medicine for the journey ahead?" The woman asked, her voice soft and warm.

Nocturne saw all the items sprawled out, but he didn't care about them. He was more happy about his new weapon. In the middle of the street, he conducted passersby with his black wand. They smiled back at him went along their merry way. Something about his carefree nature made them feel a bit warmer on the inside. Well, some people were a bit more evasive and passed nervous glances at the strange man, but most were amiable. He decided subconsciously that his allies could deal with the items and such.